Highway Commission Approves Amendment 7 Project List

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The State Highways and Transportation Commission has approved a proposed project list for Amendment 7 on the August ballot.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The State Highways and Transportation Commission has approved a proposed project list for Amendment 7 on the August ballot, which proposes raising the sales tax three-quarters of one percent to pay for transportation projects over ten years.

The 800 projects on the list include replacement of 4 major bridges, improvements to ports, rail, airports, public transportation, pedestrian infrastructure in all 114 counties and the City of St. Louis, and the single biggest project: 500-million dollars to reconstruct I-70 to add a third lane in both directions.

The approval means voters can now see what projects the Department of Transportation says it will commit to doing if they approve that tax issue next month, that would generate an estimated 534-million dollars annually for transportation for the next 10 years.

Transportation Department Chief Engineer Ed Hassinger says some projects were taken off the list when local public comment showed that other work would be more important to a region, and says the list includes more specifics and less generality.

In the southwest Missouri MoDOT district, engineers plan to use money from the tax to upgrade major roadways including Route 60, Route 65, I-249 and completing the last five miles of I-49 in Missouri.

According to MoDOT, the Southwest District would also:

Resurface over 600 miles of roadway;

Replace or rehabilitate over 30 bridges;

Make improvements to five airports (Springfield, Joplin, Monett, Neosho and Clinton);